The Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus arrived with a splash and a huge initial sales success, but since they are such a huge upgrade over the smaller, 4-inch iPhone 5s, there is a ton of new features and little things that you can do to tweak the iOS 8 experience on Apple's latest and greatest devices.

From Reachability to Family Sharing, the new iPhones have plenty of new features

Starting with neat features like Reachability that allow you to reach every corner of even the larger phone easily, to the new Family sharing options that give you the opportunity to share apps between 6 people in the family, and finishing up with the plentiful new camera settings, there is a lot of new things that you can do with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

We have tried to cover every aspect of those changes and right below you'd find our 40 tips and tricks for getting the most out of the new iPhones in every aspect. And after graduating this concise course in iPhone functions, you can safely say you've become a more advanced user, right?

The default option for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is the ‘Standard’ view, but if you prefer larger icons or have poor vision, you can go into Settings -> Display & Brightness -> View, and select the new ‘Zoomed’ view for larger icons that are easier to see.

Switch between Standard and Zoomed view

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Apple has finally opened up to alternative keyboards and you can download SwiftKey, Swype, Fleksy, and many other options. Do not forget to turn them on in Settings -> General -> Keyboards -> Keyboards -> Add New Keyboard… Also, remember to enable ‘swype’ gesture typing by granting keyboards full rights.

Download and install third-party keyboards like SwiftKey

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The 1A/5W charger included in the box of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus makes re-charging the phones slower than it could be. Grab a 2.1A/12W iPad charger for a much faster charge-up (the difference can be felt better on the 6 Plus, but the iPhone 6 also charges slightly quicker).

Fast track charging on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus

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Double tap on the home key to have the current app slide down within easy reach (the feature is called Reachability).

Use Reachability for one-hand access to that elusive, far-away back button in the top left corner

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The new Photos app takes over the role of iPhoto with a host of very cool editing options: you can lighten up an underexposed, dark image after you have shot it easily (and this adapts the whole image so it does not turn out hugely washed out in most parts). Plus, you get to do all sorts of non-destructive edits: adjust shadows, highlights, skin tones, rotate images, and others.

Edit pictures after you capture them

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You enable the hotspot feature by going into Settings -> Cellular -> Cellular Data Network, and there, in the Personal Hotspot tab you just type in any Username. Go back into Settings, and you’d now see the Personal Hotspot option. Tap on it and swing the toggle to turn it on! You’re all set.

Use your iPhone 6 as a personal mobile hotspot

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Just turn the iPhone 6 Plus in landscape to get a neat, iPad-like two-panel interface in some apps.Use spotlight search to get instant information about things like artists and places of interest: Notice that the feature seems to be available only in select markets.

iPhone 6 Plus landscape mode

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It tracks changes in altitude, which allows it to record how many flights of stairs you’ve climbed.

Track your activity better with the new sensor: barometer

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Just press the power/lock key on the right side while holding the home key, and you’ll hear a click. Screenshots are saved into the camera roll.

You can do this to avoid overage charges or expensive roaming fees (and you know how apps love to auto-update when you are using expensive data on roaming). Go into Settings -> Cellular -> switch the Cellular data toggle.

Turn off cellular data if you need to

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No more unexpected bills - set up family sharing and add your kids (even those under 13 can have an Apple ID now), so that you can review their app purchase requests.

Approve (or don’t) kids requests for app and in-app purchases

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Just open the camera and swipe left to the Slo-Mo option. You can pick between 120fps (less pronounced slo-mo effect) and 240fps (even slower, cinematic, replay-like slow motion).

Record awesome slow motion in 240fps

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This option is not that easy to access and you cannot enable it straight from the camera. You need to go into Settings -> scroll down to Photos & Camera -> toggle Record Video at 60 FPS.

Shoot videos in 60 frames per second

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Finally, group jump photos will turn out right from the first attempt! The iSight camera captures a dozen of photos after the timer count down is over.

Use the timer in camera for a burst of images

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Probably the coolest new camera features in iOS 8 is the ability to manually control exposure via the camera app. You need to tap on the object or person you want to focus on and then tap again near it and while holding your finger glued to the screen, slide it up or down to adjust exposure.

Use the manual exposure control in iOS 8 to come up with better photos

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You can do this via the Messages app by just holding down the mic button while speaking. Notice that contacts that do not use an iOS device will have the option greyed out - you cannot use this feature for such contacts.

Quickly send a voice message to other iOS users

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Just hold down the camera key in the messages app, and record a quick video or snap a picture to send it right away. Again, the feature only works when you are sending this media to other iOS users.

Quickly send a picture or a video to other iOS users

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Go into Photos -> Albums -> Recently Deleted, there you can find all recently purged apps.

Recover recently deleted pictures

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Look at battery usage stats to see whether any particular app is hogging the performance

Avoid hogs for better battery life

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This neat shortcut gesture is now even easier to perform on the slightly curved toward the edge screen of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

Swipe right to go back a page in Safari

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Want better quality selfies? Just point the main camera towards your face, and shoot with the volume down button (don’t forget that duckface for added value).

Snap images using the volume down key

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Did you know that you could even use symbols as names for your folders? Even if you don’t, the automatic name that iOS gives to folder is not always right and you can just open the folder and tap on its name to change the name.

Change folder name

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Just hold down the shutter key, and fire away with the front camera for tons of selfies capturing all the variations of your posing.

Shoots bursts of selfies with the front camera

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Use your iPhone 6 or 6 Plus to pay at places like Starbucks, McDonalds, and others with Apple Pay.

Apple Pay

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Fill in your basic personal health information in Medical ID for use in case of emergencies.

Emergency medical info

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You can now have all of your photos backed up to iCloud, so you never lose any of them, if you destroy your iPhone, or if it gets stolen.

Store any kind of file in iCloud Drive

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Take action on texts, email, calendar invitations, reminders, and even messages from apps right from their notiﬁcation banners without leaving the app you're in.

Quickly respond to a notification

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Simply swipe to archive mails that you don’t need, and use the new gestures to better handle email.

Quickly manage your mail

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Ask Siri to tell you which song is playing right now, a feature powered by Shazam.

“Hey, Siri, what song is this?”

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You also get the option to purchase the phone that was just recognized.

Buy recognized songs you have recognized straight from Siri

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Receive notifications for new replies to an important email thread.

Get reply notifications

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In Messages, drag message bubbles to the side to see exactly when they were sent.

More info about messages

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Set up family sharing for up to six people in your family, without sharing accounts.

Share apps you've bought on your iPhone with others in the family (for free!)

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There’s now a timer available when you’re shooting with the front camera, so you can get prepared for that perfect selfie.

Take selfies with a timer

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Apple has released its iWork applications for mobile: Pages, Numbers, and Keynote as a free download for new iOS device owners.

Install one of Apple’s awesome suite of free applications

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The parallax effect looks nice on iPhones for a 3D-esque feel, but some people complain it makes them nauseous. If you’re one of those, you can simply disable it by going into Settings -> General -> Accessibility -> Reduce Motion -> On.

Disable Motion effects

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Just say ‘Hey, Siri’ while your phone is charging (without even touching it) to speak to the virtual assistant without having to activate it in any other, special way.

Always-on voice commands

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Go into Settings -> Display & Brightness -> Text Size to fine tune the size of text all across the system.

Adjust text size to your preference

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Did you know that you could use the in-box iPhone headphones to capture an image with the iPhone camera? Just plug them in, fire up the camera app, and shoot with the volume down button.

Use the built-in headset to snap images

Apple iPhone 6: tips and tricks

The default option for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is the ‘Standard’ view, but if you prefer larger icons or have poor vision, you can go into Settings -> Display & Brightness -> View, and select the new ‘Zoomed’ view for larger icons that are easier to see.

Posts: 6; Member since: Sep 24, 2014

posted on Sep 24, 2014, 7:20 PM 0

Posts: 3764; Member since: Sep 30, 2009

Dark I have been loving my iPhone 6. The camera improvements are actually very noticeable in indoor and low light too.
I have a litte one on the way in a few months so having a nice camera will benefit me greatly

posted on Sep 24, 2014, 2:33 PM 4

Posts: 15; Member since: Aug 27, 2014

some of these things already exist while ago while other are for iOS 8 and not iPhone 6 specific . Anyway, In the third slide said to use iPad or high power charger for quickly charging your phone. I recommend against that. since high currents tends to inversely affect the number of recharge cycles for lithium-ion batteries. A good rule of thumb is NOT to exceed the rated battery capacity. (i.e. 3000 mAh battery ==> 3A max , 1800 mAh battery ==> 1.8 A Max) and so on.

posted on Sep 24, 2014, 12:32 PM 1

Posts: 1; Member since: Sep 24, 2014

Fortunately it is the device that determines the current draw rather than the charger. Think of the car analogy - a car is rarley driven at maxiumum speed 24/7 . My car may be capable of 300kph but I am only capable of driving it at 100kph. However I would have to keep my foot to the metal if the car was only capable of 90kph. By your reckoning attaching a 100A charger would charge the phone in seconds.

posted on Sep 24, 2014, 2:22 PM 0

Posts: 1067; Member since: Dec 06, 2013

posted on Sep 24, 2014, 6:15 PM 0

Posts: 15; Member since: Aug 27, 2014

Lithium Ion battery charging method is called CC-CV (constant current, constant voltage). using this method generally allows your battery to safely charge for about two hours if you use the battery rated capacity 1mAh => 1 mA charging. what determines the charging current is both the charging circuitry (firmware) inside the phone and the driver that controls that circuitry and of course the USB charger. If the device did not recognize the USB charger, the charging rate the value is selected from a pre-defined value from the driver or form the firmware. Although, you can charge it at a higher current and it would charge faster the number of recharge cycles would generally decrease( so instead of 700 full cycles you get 500 or lower). The higher the current the charging/discharging current the faster the battery health deteriorate. A very high current/voltage/wattage can cause the battery to be destroyed. Trust me, i did research in that topic while interning at at chip manufacturer. We used to test batteries in special battery charging/discharging equipment. and also monitor the current inside the phone.

Posts: 569; Member since: Dec 11, 2008

posted on Sep 24, 2014, 1:20 PM 1

Posts: 10; Member since: Sep 11, 2014

You can tell how many people on this comment section don't even own an iPhone and just want to say something. Only one person has pointed out that most of the things on this list already existed before iOS 8. I'm reading it and seeing things I was already doing on my 5S before the update even came out

posted on Sep 24, 2014, 2:42 PM 0

I love that every Apple story is now ruined by the iBend catastrophe. You know there must be one or two employees at Apple who warned Apple execs they had a massively faulty iBend6 on their hands but the execs went, "Whatever, this 1gb ram $900 garbage is optimized for profit margins to add to the $120 billion in profits we have already from screwing over iDiots for a decade. We'll roll with this money optimizer, thanks."